Wolf History

[Ithaca 37]

Today's letter to the editor Idaho Statesman:
"Wolf history

I´m writing in response to the letter in the Sept. 20 paper claiming that wolves are not native to Idaho and didn´t arrive until the 1920s. This message has appeared on a number of newsgroups on the Internet. The information is simply wrong.

I contacted the Smithsonian Institution through their Web site. Joy Gold of the Department of Systematic Biology contacted me with specific information showing that the oldest wolf fossils in Idaho date back about 11,000 years.Wolves were here before there was a known written human language.

Online, I browsed through the journals Lewis and Clark. These are searchable, and there´s an interactive map pinpointing journal entry locations. Wolves were mentioned specifically during the 1807 journey through Montana, Idaho and eastern Washington. According to Clark´s journal, “Great numbers of wolves were about this place and verry jentle.”

That the letters of anti-wolf fanatics are so devoid of facts points at the true problem with Idaho´s relationship with wolves. Some people seem ready to believe the negative mythology spread by a small group of reactionaries who wish it were 1900 again. It would be the worst disaster if Idaho were to lose its wolves and wildness due to this.

Rick Hobson, Boise"

Here's the best part: "That the letters of anti-wolf fanatics are so devoid of facts points at the true problem with Idaho´s relationship with wolves."

Let's hear from the SI anti-wolf fanatics!

 

[brokfut]

I heard on the morning news yesterday that the wolves that were introduced in to Idaho are not the same as the indigenous (sp) wolves that were here when Lewis and Clark passed through. The introduced wolves are Canadian Wolves and are on average 60 lbs heavier and more voracious (sp) in their consuption of elk and deer. Also noted in the discussion is the fact that there are no elk herds left in the Chamberlin Basin area where just 5 years ago at least 2 different air taxi services were flying two trips a day for outfitters with clients in there. Maybe they should be flying clients to hunt the wolves now.

 

[Ten Bears]

Here's the worst part of the letter:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> It would be the worst disaster if Idaho were to lose its wolves and wildness due to this. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Where did losing wilderness come from?????

BROKFUT, how heavy sre these new wolves? How heavy were the old wolves? What does an Idaho coyote way?

 

[Ithaca 37]

Ten, Try reading it again more slowly.

Where does the writer mention "wilderness"?

See why we have such a hard time communicating with you?

 

[Ten Bears]

Dang speed reading classes.

"wildness" not "wilderness"

BTW we didn't gain any more wildness with the reintroduction, but we've lost a lot of it with develpoments on the Boise front.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 09-26-2003 16:07: Message edited by: Ten Bears ]</font>

 

[Michaelr]

So you copied an opinion

now post something that matters!!

 

[Michaelr]

Park County board tangles with wolf issues


By MIKE STARK
Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau

9/23/03


CODY, Wyo. -- Park County officials continue to seethe in frustration over the prospect of having wolves in their midst, especially in places where local business and agricultural operations are affected.
The three-member board of commissioners vowed Tuesday to approve their third resolution with concerns about the future of wolf management in the region.
Tim Morrison, the commission's chairman, called for the resolution, saying he was spurred by a recent television special about predators in the northern Rocky Mountains.

The voice of local communities, including Park County, isn't getting much attention, but the effects of wolves are real, he said. Farmers and agricultural producers have lost livestock or suffered other losses because of wolves, Morrison said.
"It has put a new stress level on people that have to rely on forests that they have not had in the past," Morrison said.
The commissioners said they would send a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is reviewing wolf management plans from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The plans would take effect if the federal government decides to remove wolves from the endangered species list.
The Wyoming plan has drawn fire -- as well as doubts from federal officials -- because it would classify wolves in two ways: as trophy game if they're in the national parks or designated wilderness areas, and as predators everywhere else in the state. Predator designation would allow them to be killed any time and by any means.
The Park County officials said they strongly backed the dual classification approach and said they wanted even tighter restrictions on wolves than is established in Wyoming's plan.
Commissioner Tim French said he'd like to see the plan reflect the intent of the state Legislature, which earlier this year set out stricter guidelines on where trophy game wolves could roam.
"I would just like (Wyoming) Game and Fish to follow the Legislature's will," he said.
The commissioners said they were particularly concerned that the proposed plan could allow wolves to come closer to Cody and Meeteetse.
"It's not just federal land, it's on private land," said Marie Fontaine, another commissioner.
Morrison worried that relying on hunting wolves classified as trophy game won't be enough to control the population.
"If they're just trophy game, they'd never be managed. They'd grow, grow," he said.
Already, some local producers are packing firearms into areas where they have cattle or other operations, he said.
"We cannot have wolves threatening people (who are) going into wilderness areas," he said.
They worried that the wolf population would continue to grow and continue to cause problems.
Federal officials earlier this week said the wolf population is leveling out, with its growth rate slowing from 15 percent last year to 11 percent this year. Eventually, wolf experts expect the population to be limited by where they're welcomed and where they're not.
A dozen wolf experts are reviewing the wolf plans submitted by the three states. They're expected to decide by Nov. 1 whether all three will guarantee a sustained wolf population in the three states.
If not, state officials will get direction about how to improve their plans so they pass muster. Once the plans are approved, the federal government can begin the process of removing federal protections.
But French -- who emphasized that locals never wanted wolves to be reintroduced here -- said he simply wants the delisting decision to be made. The process, he said, has been dragged out long enough.
"Let's just do it and get on with it," French said.

 

[Michaelr]

Freudenthal fears wolf plan will fail

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Gov. Dave Freudenthal says a conversation he had with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife director left him concerned whether Wyoming's wolf management plan will be accepted.

"I'm a little nervous about the tone of the comments," Freudenthal said Tuesday.

Freudenthal said he talked to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams in Big Sky, Mont., while attending the Western Governors' Association meeting Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.


Wyoming, Montana and Idaho must have plans in place for managing gray wolves before the animal can be taken off the federal endangered species list. The plans must assure the wolf population will remain at sustainable levels, and all three states have adopted wolf plans.

The next step toward delisting is a peer review process, in which scientists and wildlife managers review the plans to determine if they meet their described goals and ensure the wolf population continues to thrive.

Concerns have been raised about Wyoming's plan because it has a dual classification of wolves -- as trophy game subject to regulated hunting in some parts of the state and as predators that could be shot with few limitations in others.

Williams, the federal government's official policy spokesman on wolf issues, did not say anything specific indicating that Wyoming's plan was not sufficient, Freudenthal said.

Still, he said, "I didn't come away optimistic."

Williams inquired whether Wyoming would consider making its plan a little tougher to protect wolves to ensure that their numbers stay up, Freudenthal said.

The governor said he told Williams that strengthening the plan is unlikely, and there is actually pressure to weaken it.

Freudenthal said people on both sides of the wolf debate want the federal government to reject Wyoming's plan.

Some want the plan rejected because they think it protects wolves too much, while some hope the plan is rejected so the wolves will stay on the endangered species list with full protections.

Freudenthal said he is aligned with those who don't want wolves in Wyoming.

But they are here to stay, like it or not, he said, so the best thing Wyoming can do is develop a plan acceptable to start moving the wolves off the endangered species list.

Otherwise, the wolf population will continue to grow, and their range will expand, Freudenthal said.

The scientific peer review of the state proposals is likely to take a month or two, and officials have said a delisting proposal could then come as early as year's end if all three state plans pass review and promise the survival of the region's wolf population.

Freudenthal said Williams told him the panel of scientists and wildlife managers will be in place soon.

 

[Michaelr]

Biologist keeps close tabs on Wyoming's wolves
By REBECCA HUNTINGTON
Jackson Hole News and Guide

GREEN RIVER LAKES, Wyo. -- On a trail in the Upper Green River Valley, wolf biologist Mike Jimenez sees the first clue that the alpha female of the Green River Pack has passed this way.

Lying on the trial are dark coils that look more like locks of hair than scat. Kneeling down, Jimenez smells the droppings to confirm their source.

"That's wolf."


He explains that wolves have anal scent glands, which give off a distinct odor.

Jimenez knows wolf scat. He analyzed some 3,000 samples as part of his graduate studies. Jimenez collects the scat to use later as a lure for trapping wolves. Others will come in and sniff the scat and leave their own scent mark on top of it, he says.

So begins a day for the Fish and Wildlife Service's project leader for wolf recovery in Wyoming. One day last week, Jimenez is hiking across the expansive mountain basin on the spine of the continent about two hours south of Jackson to check on the Green River Pack.

Biologists have been monitoring it closely since the service ordered the alpha male shot in July for attacking livestock.

The Green River alpha male is one of 13 wolves killed so far this year for killing livestock in Wyoming. Late summer into early fall are the peak season for such conflicts because cattle are congregated on federal land in the high country while wild game is dispersed and harder to find.


Wolf kills
The Green River Pack had killed two calves and possibly more. The pair was suspected of killing cattle on the same allotment the previous year, but it was difficult to sort out which wolf pack was responsible. The Green River, Teton and Washakie packs all frequent the Upper Green and Union Pass.

This year, however, the Green River wolves were spotted on two calf kills. Jimenez said he hoped killing the alpha male would disrupt pack dynamics and break that pattern of behavior.

"The thought was, as these cattle got bigger, this female would not be able to kill cattle by herself," Jimenez says. He hoped she would go back to wild game, he says.

A little further up the trail, Jimenez finds another sign that she has been by -- a perfect wolf print in the powdery dust. Of the scat and print, he says, "This is pretty fresh."

Nonetheless, she could be far gone by now. "She's all over the place looking for food," he says.

Killing wolves, such as the Green River alpha male, is a last resort when nonlethal tactics are unlikely to work, Jimenez says. Nonlethal tactics include increasing the number of riders watching livestock and chasing off wolves. But those strategies are impractical and don't work on large grazing allotments such as the Upper Green, he says.

"We try to do some things to stop it, but if we can't stop it, we resort to taking wolves out," he says.

Trapping wolves can have unintended consequences. This summer, a grizzly bear suffocated after being caught in a neck snare set for wolves near a cattle pasture in Sunlight Basin outside Cody.

"It was a screw-up," Jimenez says.

Initially, the snare had been set near a hole in the pasture fence, which was too small for a grizzly to get through. But a trapper moved the snare to another location where a small grizzly was able to get through the fence and caught.

"This was one that wasn't a good decision on our part," he says. The trap was moved.


Wolf traps
Also in August, Jimenez made the decision to trap wolves near Daniel. The service had confirmed two sheep kills and suspected as many as 15, he says. Two wolves were trapped but died of heat before trappers returned, he says.

"We don't like trapping in the heat," he says. But he decided to risk it since the wolves were slated for removal anyway.

However, he had hoped to radio collar and release one wolf to get a better idea of its movements. A handful of wolves have been spotted around Daniel, and their origin is unknown.

Despite such mishaps, the once-extirpated species has thrived since 66 wolves were transported from Canada and released in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996.

At last count, there were 664 wolves in 44 packs in northwestern Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Of those, an estimated 217 wolves were in Wyoming, which includes Yellowstone Park.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has declared wolves in the Rockies recovered and is moving ahead with plans to remove the species from federal protection and turn over management to states. But before that can happen, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming must all have approved wolf management plans in place. Montana and Wyoming just finished their wolf plans, which the service is now reviewing.

The Wyoming plan has been controversial because it classifies wolves as predators across the state except in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway, the National Elk Refuge and adjacent wilderness areas.

The predator classification means wolves may be killed at any time, by any means. Thus, eight wolf packs in Wyoming that roam outside those protected areas would be subject to unregulated killing across portions of their home ranges. Many of those packs' den and rendezvous sites, where the packs raise their pups, fall outside the protected zone. However, that protected zone would be expanded if Wyoming wolf packs outside the national parks fall below seven.


Managing the species
As the process of delisting wolves and turning over management to states grinds forward, management of the species in the meantime falls to Jimenez and his assistant, John Stephenson.

Later, Jimenez breaks out of thick timber into a broad valley of grass and marsh. This is the rendezvous site where the Green River mom leaves her pups while she goes off to hunt.

He hasn't checked on the pups for two weeks and isn't sure they're still here. Typically, the 5 to 6-month-old pups would still be at a rendezvous site. But Jimenez suspects the single mom might move them early, bringing them to kills since she is working alone.

After surveying the open meadow for a while and seeing no signs of wolves, he tries howling. He sounds like a siren, starting in a low tone, then increasing pitch and volume. Wolves have been known to respond to fire engines, he says.

On this day, he gets no answer. He then combs the meadow, looking for leg bones, wolf scat and matted grass, where the pups may have been rolling and playing.

"It doesn't look like anybody's been here," he says.

The pups' disappearance is a disappointment because the rendezvous site is remote with few human visitors, so it's secure, and cattle are no longer nearby.

"It's like having wayward teenagers," Jimenez says of the pups. The question is where have they gone.

Jimenez suspects they might be on Union Pass where days earlier he spotted their mom running with 2-year-old wolves dispersed from the Teton Pack.

The Green River Pack symbolizes just how well wolves are doing. In previous years, when alpha females lost their mates in spring or summer and were left to raise pups alone, biologists gave them a helping hand.

In 1999, for example, the Teton Pack's alpha male was struck and killed by an automobile, leaving a single mother to raise five pups. Jimenez and others hauled road kill to the rendezvous site where she was rearing her pups to ensure all would not starve.

In contrast, when the Green River mom lost her mate this July, she had to fend for herself. Biologists did keep an eye on her though.

"The recovery part of it is really done now," Jimenez says. "It's gone into management."

As part of the bargain to bring back wolves, the federal government promised to deal with livestock conflicts, Jimenez says.

"That was the trust that was made with the public," he says, "when wolves kill livestock that we would do something to stop it."

President of the Upper Green River Cattlemen's Association Albert Sommers says that it was not only a promise, but a legally binding agreement.

The association represents 13 different ranches, which are permitted to collectively run up to 7,598 cattle in the Upper Green River drainage and on Union Pass. Drought has kept those numbers down. The association has held the permit since 1916. Sommers' family was running cattle on the land even before it became the Bridger-Teton National Forest, he says.

The allotment has been hit not only by wolves but also by grizzly bears. Wyoming Game and Fish manages the grizzly conflicts and has trapped and relocated several bears this summer.

Relocating or removing grizzlies and wolves has helped, he says.

"When they removed the male wolf of the Green River Pack we were having several kills there and that seemed to end," Sommers says.

This is the first year the service has removed wolves from the allotment although ranchers have sustained confirmed losses due to wolves in previous years. "This hasn't been an automatic process," he says. "It's a chronic problem."

Citing personal losses, Sommers said he averaged 1.8 percent calf losses prior to 1995 when grizzlies started to become a problem.

Since then with increasing bear activity and the arrival of wolves, calf losses have increased steadily, reaching 7 percent last year, he says.

Ranchers won't know how bad this summer's losses are until they bring the cattle off the mountain, he says. And even then, tracking losses and the cause is tricky since scavengers often consume the evidence.

After failing to find the wolf pups at their rendezvous site, Jimenez heads to Union Pass the following day to check for the mother's radio signal.

Sure enough, she is on the pass and appears to have picked up a mate, wolf No. 267, a radio-collared 2-year-old from the Teton Pack. The alpha female is 3 to 4 years old.

Although finding a new mate might bode well for the Green River Pack's survival, Union Pass is brimming with temptation -- the Upper Green River Cattlemen's stock.

But for the moment, "They seem to be doing OK," Jimenez says

 

[Ithaca 37]

Here's what the Governor of Wyoming finally figured out: "Freudenthal said he is aligned with those who don't want wolves in Wyoming.

But they are here to stay, like it or not, he said, so the best thing Wyoming can do is develop a plan acceptable to start moving the wolves off the endangered species list."

Exactly what Buzz and I've been telling you guys for the last two years!

At least the Gov. was finally smart enough to listen!